


In the Blood

by asliceoftoast



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Biology, Blood, F/M, cells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26782480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asliceoftoast/pseuds/asliceoftoast
Summary: Japril meets Cells at Work meets Episode meets trashy romance novel meets my physio teacher's requirements for this assignment.
Relationships: Jackson Avery/April Kepner
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	In the Blood

April stepped down the ivory stairs and onto the red lawn, her auburn hair flowing in the breeze. Adjusting her slanting nameplate, she tiptoed up to her assigned manager. The tiny woman in the wine red military jacket stood under the shade, flipping restlessly through the pages on her clipboard. As soon as the young red blood cell reached her superior, an order was called out.

“Name,” she demanded.

“Uhh, April?”

“Is that an answer or a question,” the manager paused, “April?”

“Answer,” she gulped.

When she found the name, the manager scribbled along the margins, speaking quickly as she wrote.“Your assignment for today is to the liver. That’s sort of complicated for a first-timer, but I guess upper management sees something in you. You know how this works, right? The sternal academy didn’t give you all that training for nothing.”

Fiery tendrils of hair danced as April nodded. The stout woman handed her a pen and the clipboard to sign next to her name. “Um, what if I get lost?”

Her manager sighed. “Don’t. There are signs on the walls, just follow them and get the job done. I don’t want the cell manager ripping me a new one because you got lost. Don’t mess this up.”

“I won’t ma’am.”

“Now scram.” April pivoted, slipping her standardized red baseball cap on. As she pulled her ponytail through the hole above the adjustable strap, she heard a sharp call for her. “April!” Her head snapped back, staring into the dark brown eyes of her superior. “Fix your name tag.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Shuffling through the crowded lawn filled with advisors and her classmates, she fiddled with the tag. With her eyes looking down, she didn’t notice the brawny man in front of her. Her face collided with his back, knocking her off of her feet. The man in a red cell uniform let out a grunt, spinning around to see who hit him. 

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.” April felt her face flush, the onset of a blush creeping onto her face. Embarrassed, she dipped her head down, hiding under the brim of her hat.

He chuckled lightly, helping April back to her feet. “It’s all good...” he trailed, taking a peek at the nametag that slanted again, “April.” He stuck his hand out to her, “Nice to meet you. I’m Jackson.” Sliding her hand into his, she shot him a trepid smile and finally met his gaze. His blinding blue eyes shook her to the core, and the blush she fought to suppress flushed through her system once more. She mirrored his sentiments, dropping her hand to her side as she let go. April lingered in the yard, unsure of what to do next. “First day on the job?”

“Um, yeah.” April chewed on her lip, switching between the top and bottom as time passed. “I should go,” she muttered, pointing awkwardly over her shoulder. 

Jackson smiled at her, jutting a thumb in the other direction, “I think you want to go that way.”

“Right, thanks.” April brushed past him, swiftly walking to the main entrance of the ivory gates that surrounded the area. When she no longer saw him, April pulled out her standard-issue map, spinning the paper around multiple times before slumping in frustration. “Heart… Heart. Where is it?” she mumbled to herself. 

“You lost?” April looked over the edge and straight at his chest. 

“Jackson,” she huffed. “I’m not lost. I just don’t know where I’m headed.” She pulled the paper taut, blocking him out as she tried to find significant markers on the tiny intercrossing lines.

“I’m guessing you’re looking for the heart.” Jackson looked over the paper, pointing to the center. “I think that’s what you’re looking for.” The corner of his lip tipped up in a smug smirk as April folded up the paper and slipped it back into her breast pocket. “Thank you,” she murmured mildly embarrassed. 

“I’m headed there too. Why don’t we go together.” April looked back at Jackson, the warm red tint from above illuminating his tawny skin.

“Together?” she squeaked. Jackson tossed an arm around her, leaning close and whispered in her ear, “Yes, together.”

The two pushed past the other cells and up through the narrowing passageway. 

“You sure this is the way?”

Jackson shrugged and smiled. “Things move slowly on this side of town. It’s best to just relax and enjoy the ride.”

“Well, the ride is taking a long time.” April huffed. “Where even are we?”

“We’re in the  **capillaries** . Don’t tell me you already forgot what we learned at training?” April turned to him, brows furrowed.

“I didn’t,” she insisted. “I’m just not good with directions.”

“And yet you’re a red blood cell,” he laughed. “How can you do your job if you don’t know where you’re going?”

“I’ll be fine, Jackson.” The two merged into a wider lane, and the pace quickened on this avenue. April looked at the sign with “ **VENULE** ” in bold red letters bolted on the wall. They continued walking, exchanging sporadic conversations every once in a while.

When they hit the  **vein** , things began to change. The accelerating flow pushed out the side; other cell officers seeping through the cracks. April felt the pull, her feet slipping off of the ground. 

“Jackson!” she screamed, grasping haphazardly at the rough fabric of his wine-red military coat. A tiny child in a platelet uniform clung to his side, holding him down to the side of the wall. He reached out, holding tightly to her arm. Cells screamed as they were sucked out of the  **vein** and out into the elements. Sticky children sang as they worked, quickly webbing a network of clotting agents across the open wound. Jackets fluttered in the breeze as injured cells crumpled around them. April stared at the empty spot where the girl in front of her once was. With watery eyes, she looked back to the man who was the only thing keeping her from flowing to her doom.

“It’s gonna be okay, April. I’m not going to let go.”

“You promise?” Her voice wavered, a soft shake as her breath hitched.

With bated breath, he responded. “I promise.” As the platelets worked, more rushed to the scene. Some cells were still in the process of forming the sticky cover on the opening, but the force was subdued enough so that April could return to her feet.

Jackson pulled her into a hug the second she touched the ground, her tiny frame enveloped in his muscular embrace. “Jackson?” she mumbled into his shoulder, a bit overwhelmed.

“You scared me,” he whispered. Her heart melted as she rubbed gentle circles on his back. She opened her mouth but closed it as she was unable to find the right words to say. Eventually, she pulled back, cupping his face in her hands, the heat of his skin tickled her fingertips.“That’s the nature of the job. We knew what we were signing up for when we entered the academy.”

Jackson released a sardonic laugh. “How can you not know your way to the heart, but be okay with the fact that you almost died?” 

“Like I said before. I’m just not good with directions.”

A small smile pulled at his lips, “Well, it’s a good thing you have me then.” The two jogged up the hallway, doors closing behind them as they moved. Eventually, the vein merged into what April recognized as the  **superior vena cava** . 

“We’re almost at the heart!” she exclaimed. An excited glint appeared in her hazel eyes as she looked into the cerulean blues of the man beside her. She slipped her hand into his pulling him forward as they pooled into the  **right atrium** .

The light under the sign “ **Tricuspid Valve** ” switched from red to green, and the three-door system opened. The room squeezed the cluster of red blood cells into the  **right ventricle** .

“Left or right?” he asked, his hand still in hers. 

She smirked, tossing his words from earlier back at him. “Just go with the flow.”

“But this flow is so much less chill, April!” his voice accelerating to a scream as the  **pulmonary semilunar valves** opened, and the right ventricle forced them out. The two ended up in the left  **pulmonary artery** , fast-tracked to the  **lung** . They split into smaller passageways, the walls becoming thinner and thinner to the point where April could hear the expanding wind tunnels around her.

The overhead speaker announced repeatedly as the two neared the  **capillary beds** , “Single file line. Once you receive the package please move along to the nearest exit.” April slipped in front of Jackson, squished between him and another red blood cell. 

“Wow,” April sighed, “quite the traffic jam.”

“Welcome to the lungs.” Jackson bumped into April as more cells piled up behind them. “I feel like this is a momentous occasion. First time in the lungs. Should I buy a postcard and send it to my mom?”

April gasped, clapping as she tilted her head back to look at him. “Oh, should I buy my mom a postcard? Do you think they have a  **peri-alveolar capillary network** gift store?”

“I was joking, Red.”

April let out a breath, “The nickname doesn’t work because of our uniforms, Jackman. We’re all, technically, red.” Jackson twirled his fingers through her fiery ponytail, humming in disagreement.

“Well, April. How about Apes? Hmm, I don’t like that one. Oh, the Little Engine That Could?”

“Really?”

Jackson smirked as they inched forward, “Hey, a guy’s gotta try, Red.”

“That’s not gonna be a thing.” 

“It will,” he retorted. Before April could interject, the man at the gate called, “Next!” She shuffled forward, walking towards the lung official.

“State your business.”

“Red blood cell headed to the liver.”

The man turned to the conveyor belt behind him, blue and white packages labeled with “O 2 ” all around. He grabbed a larger packet, handing it to April. The gate opened up, and she passed through, the wine red stain of her uniform lightening to a sharp scarlet. 

April lingered by the gate, waiting for Jackson to pass through. He jogged up to her, his equally large package in hand. Merging with other branches, the two entered into the  **pulmonary veins** from the venules, directed towards the heart. 

Jackson shot her a look, “We’re almost done with the  **pulmonary circuit** ! Once we get back to the heart we’re done. You excited?”

“Is it bad that I am?”

“Not at all, Red.” The two ran into the crowded  **left atrium** , waiting for the light to turn green. 

The PA system announced the opening of the  **bicuspid valve** , all the cells with packages flooding through the tiny doors and into the  **left ventricle** . 

In a split second, as they waited for the **aortic valve** to open, April looked to the man who had helped her tremendously throughout her time as a new graduate from the sternal academy as a new red blood cell. He met her gaze, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips a little more genuine than the smirk he gave her before. 

“I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Will we see each other again? There are millions of us here.” April picked at the label of her package, nibling awkwardly on her lip. 

“I have a feeling,” he shrugged, shifting his box under one arm so he could push April’s cap over her eyes.

“Hey!” she squealed, quickly brushing her hair out of her eyes, but by the time she looked to her right, he was gone. April felt the push of blood exiting the  **left ventricle** , the rush causing her stomach to flutter.

Like a rollercoaster, she flew through the  **aorta** , taking the common hallway past the sharp bend down the body until she turned off and into the  **hepatic artery** . Resting her map atop the package, she slowed her pace to a brisk walk and wandered down the halls from the  **artery** to an  **arteriole** . Branching into a  **capillary bed** , April inched her way through the narrow stream.

Eventually, she found the cell she was supposed to deliver to. Cramped between two other deliveries, nocking twice, she waited till the door opened, trading boxes with the man. He signed for his oxygen delivery and handed her a box of waste materials. The vivid red of her uniform dimmed back to the rugged stain from before as her oxygen levels fell and carbon dioxide levels rose. Just as she came in, April squeezed her way through the capillaries of the capillary bed which eventually converged into a  **venule** .

“Halfway through the  **systemic circuit** , April. Just make it back to the heart and you’re done,” she murmured to herself, a heavy breath escaping her tired frame. Like before, she traced her way through the opposing venule and into the  **hepatic vein** . After a brisk walk, she finally made it onto the  **inferior vena cava** . The stream quickened as she ascended the body. Doors fluttered closed behind her as she rose into the right atrium once more. Her pager dinged, a new assignment traveling across the screen.

“Here we go again,” she exhaled as the  **tricuspid valve** opened and she was pushed into the right ventricle.

\--- 119 days later

April trekked her way through the capillaries of the pectoral muscle around where they met with the sternum. Her once pristine map was now torn at the folds, the ink rubbing off on some parts of the fraying paper. Running her hands across the fuzzy edges, she didn’t see that the delivery person in front of her had stopped. Slamming into his back, April hit the ground, her package crumpled on the ground. 

“We got to stop meeting like this, Red.” Peeking up past the brim of her cap, she saw the man she had met a lifetime ago. His name left her mouth in a gentle whisper, disbelief stunning her. Like he did before, Jackson helped April back to her feet, adjusting the slanting name tag attached to her jacket. Jackson picked up the box and her map, chuckling lightly as he handed the back to her. “Some things never do change.”

Jackson watched in the distance as she delivered her package, leading her back to the entrance of the ivory gates of the sternum. New red blood cells rushed past them, the graduating class eager to deliver oxygen to cells and perform their duty to the body. 

Hand in hand, the two aging red blood cells walked through the lawn and back to the place where they first met.

Note: creative liberties have been taken with this story. These cells have been personified, they shouldn’t have feelings in real life, and I highly doubt that they have meet-cutes. Mature red blood cells can’t go back into the bone. Injured or dying red blood cells go to the liver and spleen for cell elimination and to have their iron recycled. 

**Author's Note:**

> i really stunted on this one. my friend calls this "if biology was written by Nicholas sparks." i shouldn't let her flatter me like that lol.


End file.
